|| ✖─── ᶦᶰᵗᵉʳᵛᶦᵉʷ ʷᶦᵗʰ ᵃ ＷＲＩＴＥＲ . | ᶠᵉᵃᵗᵘʳᵉᵈ﹕ Asherwy

[Polar Kitten]

When do you write best? (Certain moods, times of day, ect.)

[ʞ ɔ ǝ ɹ ʍ d ı ʞ s]

@Polar Kitten you've been added to the list! c:

And now I have some questions -cracks fingers-

What character do you relate to most?

What do you think some of your characters would think of you?

If you had to pick one of yours and one of anyone else's, what worlds would you live in?

I'll be back trollololol

[peachy keen-]

thanks for my run, guys! that was fun. <3
anyways, questions. cx
--
do you plan out your story before writing?
do you show your family / friends your work or to do tend to
keep it to yourself? [ except for posting it on sites like CS ]
---
i may be back with more when my brain starts working.

[☆ marriage maze ☆]

I have a question!

Do you have any methods for coming up with interesting characters?

[Silverhart]

Oooh! Can I ask how self-publishing was for you? ^^

[Woogwoo Wren]

Captain, can you put this by my name? Thanks.

[ʞ ɔ ǝ ɹ ʍ d ı ʞ s]

@Spanner Sure thing! c:

[ʞ ɔ ǝ ɹ ʍ d ı ʞ s]

Should we move on tomorrow?

[ʞ ɔ ǝ ɹ ʍ d ı ʞ s]

swindle | zeta | 100 one-shot challenge

-----Do you have to write from a specific gender's point of view?
-----Nope! I've never had any issue writing different genders. In fact, even being female, I actually lean more towards males more often than not. But really if you view them as personalities and mindsets rather than genders, it becomes a lot easier.

-----If you could choose one character to be roomates with for a year, who would it be?
-----Oh lord... Uhhhh to be honest, probably Azure from Iota Beta and Zeta. He's someone you could have intellectual conversation with and at the same time he can be fun with a little push, and even if he fails horribly, it's extremely amusing.

-----What's your opinion on first person vs. third person?
-----I think there are only a few selective stories where first person is necessary. If it's a crucial element that the situation be viewed from one point of view and the point is to get into someone's head, then first person is the way to go. However, I find those cases rare. I always write in third person because it allows the thoughts and descriptions of multiple characters. This is helpful when dealing with relationships and jumping around to multiple places when your characters are separated. To me, it just means the possibility of a wider range.

-----Are "strong female characters" becoming 'stereotypical'?
-----To be honest, this trend has been bothering me. There are more and more female leads, but "strong" is the only thing they have been; they don't usually have depth. It seems as though most of the time they're just female for the sake of being female and strong just to prove some stereotypes wrong. However, I'm not against female leads at all [obviously]. There should just be more to them than "act distant and snarky until they fall in love then their personality changes entirely", because that's what I see happen more often than not.

-----Is it important to write every day? Or should you do it as you please?
-----Noooo don't write every day! The minute you start making yourself is the minute it starts becoming a chore. Anything becomes hard to do if you do it every day. Write when inspiration comes. That's how you get the best content. If you're writing when you don't want to with no ideas, your writing will reflect that. You want to be able to put your excitement and passion into the words and your readers will see the difference.

-----Who do you think out of your characters, or anyone else's, would make the most mischievous duo?
-----Oh lord there's so many options I have for that one lol however, I'm leaning dangerously towards Beth and Warren from Swindle. She's could think of the most devious things to do for no other reason than for fun and he would do whatever he was told. With her cleverness and his willingness they could get into all kinds of trouble xD

-----Pen or pencil?
-----It depends really. I love writing in pen and haaate writing in pencil, but you know what, erasers come in handy.

-----Do you stick strictly to computers, or do you also write in notebooks?
-----Oh I always write on computers. I can't write stories in notebooks, for I do way too much meticulous editing and that is definitely much harder to share if I ever wanted to.

-----How long should a typical chapter be?
-----However long you'd like! Anything from half a page to fifteen- whatever feels right!

-----How do you use symbolism? Do you use it at all?
-----Usually, when I use symbolism, it's never on purpose. I'll have had an object around for chapters and chapters before I could go, hey... This could totally represent something.

-----What do you do when you get frustrated with your work?
-----If I get frustrated halfway through a scene, I finish it anyway. It bothers me to no end to stop in the middle of any project. Of course, my book i an entirely different story, and sometimes I'll stop in the middle of a sentence and leave it that way for days lol

-----As an author, what is the hardest thing you've ever had to do?
-----I'd say the hardest thing about writing, especially something as long as I have written, would be to maintain character personalities and not give in to your own desires. If a character is sad and you'r sitting there an emotional wreck, it's really easy for the character to reflect that. However, you have to stop and wonder if that's what they would do. Or when you have the perfect comeback but the character that would say it is not the sassy type, you have to restrain yourself no matter how great it would be. Maintaining identities is the hardest and at the same time one of the most important things you could do as a writer.

-----How many drafts should it take before your story is "complete"?
-----I honestly have no idea! I thought I would only have to make one, but the further I got the more ideas I had and I ended up being in places I didn't expect to be. So next time around I'll have all my new ideas in mind, but whose to say I won't get a whole new batch of new ideas? The plan is just to keep writing until I'm satisfied with it, because one of my biggest fears is publishing something then wanting to make changes and not being able to.

-----What is the most cheesy book you've ever read?
-----Probably the Maze Runner trilogy... I mean, the idea is good but the story and the way it's written was practically cringe worthy. But I kept reading, so I obviously still liked it lol but this is probably the only time I will say the movie is way better than the books.

-----Eye color. Is it important?
-----Two things come to mind. One is that every tiny detail you can sneak in is absolutely important. You really want the reader to be able to imagine the characters as you do. I include eye color, hair color and texture, height, build, features, anything that can help the reader visualize these characters in a way that sucks them into the story. The same goes for scenery and things too, or at least the ones that come up often. The second thing that comes to mind is my character Scarlet Waters, whose identity as a pirate is based heavily on her looks. For example, here is a quote from a piece of the story:
“They say her hair is red from bathing in the blood of the men she’s killed, and her lips even redder from drinking it!” There was another pause and his voice dropped to a whisper. “They say her eyes are pale with the souls trapped there.”
Now, obviously none of that is true, but its extremely important in a way that it gives a sense of the real fear people have towards her, which defines her character, or at least, who she supposedly is.

-----How do you feel about songs in novels? (i.e, the Hanging Tree in Hunger Games)
-----Oh I absolutely love them. Having no musical creativity, it really helps for me to hear them come to life. Especially all the songs in LOTR and the Hobbit, as there are a great deal that are quite long and for me it was more like reading a poem. So hearing them actually being sung is fantastic. The only time I thought of a tune for any was for Volunteers Fighting Disease in the eighth Series of Unfortunate Events book... And I was probably about nine so it's not even that great lol

-----What do you want your readers to take away from your stories?
-----More than anything I want them to take away a sense of attachment. I want them to be emotionally involved with the characters I've created. I want to give them something precious to love; things to really care about. I want to give them an escape. I don't know, I guess I'm just more of a story teller than I am a lesson giver when it comes to my writing.

-----How do you try to make your readers feel emotion?
-----The number one way I hack into peoples emotions is by using physical descriptions. If you say your characters chest is tightening, their face growing hot, their heart in their throat, things like that, then people will feel it. Everyone knows what those emotions feel like, and if you describe the physical feelings part of their brain will remember and that will lead to remembering how that felt. It's a tad bit manipulative, but it works!

-----What genre is your strongest and weakest?
-----I love historical fiction and action/adventure. I love playing on facts of the past and creating an alternate universe based on a world that exists. To me, it makes the characters feel more real. And I looove action as well as adventure. It really gets your heart racing when characters are in danger, and I think a piece of all of us wish we were explorers. On the other hand, I am absolutely 100% DREADFUL at romance. Theres no way in the whole of creation I would ever in a million years be able to write a decent romantic novel. Not only would it suck, but I'd be bored out of my mind!

-----Do you write for yourself, or for your readers?
-----Oh I absolutely write for myself. Writing is my escape. I take critique on how to better my skills and the story, but I could hardly care less if someone doesn't care for my stories. They're my characters and I love them, and to me, that's the most important thing when it comes to being successful. If you write what you love, someone else will love it the same. If you write for others, all you will see is disapproval. You can't please everybody.

-----Give us some good score music to listen to while writing.
-----Oh lord, any Assassin's Creed score. They're all absolutely gorgeous and come with a wide range of feels. My personal favorites are the ones for II and Black Flag.

-----When does descriptive become too descriptive?
-----This took me a while to figure out. No one wants to read a fat paragraph on how someone looks or their entire life history. That's what the whole story is for! Gradually reveal your characters, as this holds the reader's attention far better.

-----Are you writing for enjoyment or publication?
-----Both! I plan to publish something I get a great deal of enjoyment out of writing.

-----Whether yours or someone else's, whose death in a novel caused you the most havoc?
-----Good lord where do I begin. Honestly, Harry Potter took a huge toll on me. Losing Sirius was probably the most heart wrenching death of the series, at least to me. Though at the same time, I very nearly quit reading Inkheart when Dustfinger was killed off- and I probably would have had I not skipped way forward to find out he was brought back lol. However, looking at the word havoc from a different perspective... I have received a huge amount of uproar and backlash from others upon killing some of my own characters, but I wont say who c;

-----What's the saddest thing you have written? Like, a real tear-jerker.
-----I think... The only time I actually made myself cry was a scene that has not yet been put out into the public. What happened was my main characters had to go to a cave to find mermaids, who were the keepers of souls. Once they were in the cave, figures of deceased loved ones began to appear and disappear. One of my characters only had two that were barely a memory. However, the other character's entire personality at this point had been playing off her inability to let go of grief and loss. So bringing up everyone she loved and even feared that had been killed was very hard on her, especially seeing them as moving, seemingly alive figures before they'd disappear. It wasn't so much the scene as it was her screaming and crying that really got to me though.
But hoooly honeypots I've written a TON of scenes that ALMOST made me cry, and even more that made OTHER people cry!

-----Who is your favourite character that you made? Why do you like him/her?
-----Oh man it is very hard to choose a favorite... I don't think I have one xD though the character I spend the most time writing and drawing would have to be Scarlet Waters. I don't really know why I like her so much... I made her up in less than five minutes for a roleplay about three years ago and somehow she always just stuck. I think I really like that she managed to suffer through so much and became such an influential figure in her time, but then again not in a conventional way. Rather than respected and looked up to like most main characters, she is misunderstood and feared. She is the villain, but not without reason. She's different and I love that about her.

-----Do you ever model a character off your self? Or do you put bits of yourself in your characters?
-----Never. I mean, of course I have some things in common with all of them as I would with any real person, but I never self-insert, ever. I think it's because I don't want that connection to my life. I want them to have their own. I use writing to escape, and if I'm in the story, then all it does is remind me of myself and the world around me. So no, I don't do that.

-----How do you overcome writers block?
-----This is a hard one for me. I can lose interest for days or even weeks and there's not much to do other than wait for inspiration. But usually when I have nothing to write for one thing, I work on another project or revert to drawing. I usually spend a few days writing then a few days drawing and switch back and forth. The thing I found helps most, however, is thinking out loud. Especially talking to other people about your characters. That gets input from them and brings up a lot of what ifs.

-----Do you have a favorite song that you listen to while writing, something that inspires you?
-----Ehh sooometimes I listen to specific songs for certain scenes but more often than not I end up tuning them out anyway. But the one thing that never fails to make me want to write is the score for Assassin's Creed: Black Flag. It is absolutely gorgeous in every way and piratey, which helps with writing pirates! Lol

-----Do you find it hard to come up with strategic and complicated plots?
-----OH MY GOD YES. I'm great at scenes and skits- TERRIBLE at overall storylines. However, I think I'm getting better. At least, I'd like to think so. My strategy is to take generic options and twist them into something new. My problem is I don't like being generic and I'm bad at twisting so getting to the point where I actually like a plot is hard. But I do find that just continuing to write helps, or piecing together random scenes you had random ideas for. I mean I've been working on my novel for a year and the first draft is almost done- and I have a ton of things I need to do to make the plot flow better still. But thats what practice is for!

-----Do you think you will (or have you ever) publish a book?
-----Yes, absolutely. Swindle is actually the first book in a three trilogy series that I plan on getting professionally published.

-----Would you rather write a hilarious sarcastic scene or a really depressing tear-jerking one?
-----To be honest, it really depends. I quite enjoy both, just never at the same time.

-----How long have you been writing?
-----Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
... Well. I started with poetry in second grade. Wrote some fanfic in there somewhere. Started roleplaying in middle school. Picked up playwriting in highschool [totally not my thing the formatting KILLS me]. Mostly through middle and highschool I focused on all the essays I had in honors and AP classes but man if I didn't go all out. I started really writing with the idea of Swindle, which was officially started february 2014. From there I branched off with a lot of potential books, like Iota Beta (Zeta), Shadows of Mysterium, and an unnamed fantasy. Soooo how long have I been writing [or attempting to write] fictional novels? About a year.

-----Is there a particular country/place/setting you like writing about?
-----Nope! That's usually the last thing I think of. I just kind of put my characters wherever they need to be.

-----Where do you usually write?
-----At home. Wherever. The wherever is easy with a laptop xD

-----Have you ever worked with someone else on a story? (my guess for the answer would be rosie x3
-----YESS Rose <3 she's the only one I've been able to tolerate collabs with lol and man do we collab. None of our stuff is posted on the site, as the majority is just random scenes and snippets from the later books in the Swindle trilogy. [so they're all spoilery.] Though between the two of us I wouldn't be surprised if we had over 50 scenes that averaged four or five pages. We have so much fun with each other's characters it should be a sin.

-----Have you ever gotten really angry at something you wrote?
-----Weeell I don't know about angry, per say. Though I have sat back and gone... Why did I write that. Why did I write that. [more often rose and I have raged at each other's cold-hearted scenes]

-----Do you like making your characters suffer?
-----... I may or may not have occasional sadistic tenancies... Especially with Scarlet and Vin... I tend to wreck her emotionally with a flamethrower and him I go at physically with sharp objects. I mean pff idk why I- I just I- ... Yes I enjoy it. Especially when I get yelled at for it because then I know I did good. But at the same time I hate hurting other peoples' characters? Idk.

-----How much research and planning go into your story? What is your research and development period like?
-----... Planning? Lol, why I've never heard of such a word! I hardly plan anything. When I do it's 30 seconds word of vague plot notes. I just start writing and see where it goes. Research, on the other hand, I've probably spent hours on, but never all at once. Writing historical fiction, research is absolutely essential. I don't have to often, being a major history geek [I was always in honors and AP history and still listen to lectures and watch documentaries whenever I get the chance] but when I'm not sure about something, I thoroughly research it to make sure I have it right. So there's no one research period for me- it's more periodically as I run into questions.

-----How does your editing happen? Do you do it all at once, or in chunks? How many drafts do you typically go through?
-----Generally, I read over a chapter whenever I finish it. So I power through and then skim through for mistakes. Overall story editing doesn't happen until I'm done with the entire draft, then I edit the story. I don't exactly know how many drafts it will take, as I am still on the first of my big project. I'm expecting it to be three or four at the least.

-----I notice you said you like writing historical fiction. Is there a particular time period you enjoy writing or researching? Why that period?
-----Obviously, I quite enjoy the golden age of piracy! It's my favorite so far to write, being old and at the same time not so old that you're stuck with what would even happen. And so many other things were going on around that time, like civil wars and revolutions. However, my favorite time period in general is ancient times, from one to four thousand years ago. There's just so much mystery- I'm going to stop myself there before I go on nerd rants about unsolved historical mysteries [aka my favorite things ever].

-----Are there any historical figures you like writing about, or would like to write about one day?
-----Not particularly. I wouldn't mind including real people in my work, but I'm too much of a fan of making my own characters to make existing people main ones. That's the moment it goes from historical fiction to a biography.

-----Do you have a [vague] schedule for writing/updating?
-----Nope! I write whenever I have an idea and a computer and the time c:

-----have you ever written something you regretted? and if you have, what was it?
-----Regretted anything I've written? Nah. ... Regretted showing someone something I wrote? ... Well... That's an entirely different story xD I've received serious backlash for some of my scenes lol also occasionally some suggestions that made me cringe. You know when someone gives you ideas and you're like, ohhhh no sweetheart noooooo. Yeah. My non-writer friends think they know lol. One time my grandpa told me my dialogue was too choppy and multiple characters should speak in the same paragraph. I was like nooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

-----What is your writing processes? Do you start on paper, then transfer to the computer?
-----Naaah. I change too many things and write too slow for that. Besides, copying from paper is a pain in the butt. I just go straight onto the computer and sometimes read it a couple times over to tweak mistakes and wording c:

[ʞ ɔ ǝ ɹ ʍ d ı ʞ s]

You little...
-cracks neck-
Alright here we go